Life of a Hero
by SightlessDreamer
Summary: Hey guys! This is a rewrite of an AU fic I wrote a few years ago! Set in a world where psychics use their powers to help their cities while hiding behind masks, two heroes patrol the streets of Shibuya. But can they work together? Or will they constantly be at odds with one another? Rating may change later for possible blood and gore, haven't decided yet ;D
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys! I'm going to be rewriting this story :3 My apologies to those who remember it from a few years ago and were following the old story line, but after coming back to this and rereading it, I knew I could do better now as a writer. Prepare to see much more character development, less plot holes, and a much slower plot with more suspenseful encounters! I have a lot more free time on my hands now, so I hope to be posting a new chapter every 1-2 days. Enjoy ;D

* * *

It was a frigid night, even compared to the cold weather February had been bringing with it in the recent weeks. Misty breath billowed faintly from under the hood of the figure perched on the rooftop edge, the only difference between a statue and a living being. Late night passersby hurried home from work or meetings with friends, but they were largely ignored. Shroud only had eyes for the building across the street.

An anonymous source had tipped her off about a possible robbery that night, the building in question being a large bank. She had already memorized the layout a few days before, noting any alternate ways into the bank as possible escape routes if it should come to that. Once all the employees were gone for the night, with the exception of the few guards, she would slip in and stand watch. She wasn't too sure about the source of the information here after all, so she wanted to avoid involving the authorities lest there be any misunderstandings about her presence here.

There was another reason that she was being overly cautious though. She was sure that one of the other heroes in the city would show up. Not that there were very many, only 3 others that she knew of. They rarely crossed paths, each covering a different part of Tokyo. But recently a newcomer had arrived, and he had a bad habit of busting in on her investigations and blowing her cover in the process.

He called himself Raven, and he was hugely popular among teen girls for his tall stature and assumed good looks. In Tokyo, it was hard to avoid being noticed by the public and being idolized by some people as a sort of symbol of justice, strength, goodness, the list went on. She had taken great steps to insure her own privacy as much as she could, since being a fairly public figure was impossible to avoid. She was also not as displeased as she thought she might have been otherwise when the media presented her hero persona as male, since it further threw people off the track of discovering who she was.

The outfit she wore as her hero's disguise was simple, a lightweight gray cloak which could easily be discarded, and a loose fitting garment of the same color underneath that hid her girlish figure. A full mask that obscured all but her eyes hid much of her features, the hood of the cloak making it harder still to get a decent glimpse of her. Metal guards on her forearms and shins gave her fairly decent protection from harm when it became necessary to physically confront someone, but she could usually incapacitate enemies long before they managed to touch her.

Raven was flashy in comparison, with his skin tight black leather suit. _Another reason he's popular with the ladies_ , she thought to herself. A belt to hold his favored weapon, and a black half-mask adorned with a single feather completed his look. She personally would have found his outfit uncomfortable and constricting. Hers was designed with practicality in mind, at least. She also found his attitude completely distasteful, though they had only met once or twice face or face before.

He was rude, and sharp with the few words he said. They had instantly disliked each other, and it showed rather obviously. While the tabloids were having a field day with a potential hero rivalry, she was much less enthused about the situation. He was a wild card, new to the city and already on her bad side. An encounter with him while she was on a patrol could take a dangerous turn is anything actually happened, since she couldn't count on him to work with her.

She had never worked with a partner, for that matter. Nothing so serious that she couldn't handle it herself had ever arisen in the Shibuya district, which was her patrol territory. She knew ways to contact the other heroes in immense city regardless, just in case.

Turning her full attention back to the bank, she noted that no one had come out in the past hour. Hooking her belt to the zipline she had set up earlier, she whisked across the empty street and landed soundlessly on the roof of the shorter building. Smiling beneath her mask, she recalled the first time she'd ever repelled like that, forgetting to check the activity on the street below and nearly getting caught. She'd gotten much more experience since then. A simple piece of cardboard stuck in the latch of the roof access door gave her easy access to the building.

She crept down the stairs, passing the third and highest office level, and exited out into the second floor. It ran around he building as one big hallway, more offices on the outer edge, and a large gap in the middle where you could look down into the first floor, where the lobby and vault were. She had noticed a perfect spot between the railing and a potted plant which would be the ideal place for her to settle and wait for the supposed heist to begin.

She didn't have to wait long, only an hour or two. The first sign that something was wrong was when one of the guards didn't come back from his patrol around the building. She heard no sound, so she assumed he'd been taken by surprise and rendered unconscious. Bank robbers rarely wanted to add murder to the charges they were wanted for.

Dark figures with flashlights and bags crept slowly across the floor, giving her time to study them. Almost unconsciously, she also dipped into their minds briefly, to get an idea of what kind of people she was dealing with. Out of the five of them, 3 were pretty standard as far as criminals came. Greedy, but not overtly malicious, with one considering himself the leader. One of them was completely unreadable, the barrier in his mind like a wall of stone to her gentle prodding. She'd have to keep an eye on him, it took training to be able to protect one's mind like that.

The last one made her recoil almost physically. His mind was dark, oozing of violence and a thirst for blood. She thought of the missing guard and worried for him. This was no ordinary bank robber mixed in with this group. This was a monster.

She used a bit more energy to send her awareness throughout the building, relieved to find the guard only unconscious. It took some effort to do this, but it was well worth the reassurance that there hadn't already been a casualty.

The robber who had shielded his mind, cast about with the beam of his flashlight, as if he had sensed her probe. She wouldn't put it past him, she realized, since he was so accomplished at blocking her from reading him. She slunk back behind the potted plant a bit as the light swept over her hiding spot, certain that he wouldn't see her but still not wanting to take even a slight chance otherwise.

"Stop that, you'll give us away before we reach the guard room," the leader hissed, yanking the flashlight out of his companions hands. "I get that you're new, but rookie mistakes like that will get us caught and then we're all screwed." The new member simply shrugged, and continued to look along the second floor. Shroud could see even in the dim lighting that his eyes were startlingly blue, something uncommon to see in Japan. Unfortunately, they were all wearing ski masks, so discerning any other features was out the question. _What an original disguise_.

They hastily knocked the remaining guard unconscious, before he had to chance to realize they were in the building. She waited for a chance to take them by surprise, moving from her hiding place while they started setting down their bags. When they were opened to reveal explosives, she changed tactics however. Hitting a button on a device attached to her belt, she alerted the police to her GPS coordinates with a distress signal and started focusing on figuring out how to get the guards out of the building. There were enough explosives in those bags to take the whole place down.

While the bank robbers labored in front of the vault, she made her way to the first level and found where they had entered the building, through a back door in an alley. Finding the first guard, she dragged him out as fast as she could. It wasn't easy, she was rather short and lightly built, more used to acrobatics than pulling dead weight around. By the time he was safely outside and she made it back to the lobby, the robbers had already finished unloading the explosives.

As she hid behind one the columns supporting the upper level, she noticed something odd about the robbers. Fear seemed to fill the air thickly, emanating from the 3 ordinary criminals. Then she realized that the man whose mind was dark and frightening had a gun pulled on his comrades, and was ushering them to line up beside the vault door. With a chill she realized he was going to shoot them all, blow the safe, and take the spoils for himself.

She moved without thinking, her brown eyes meeting the blue of the odd robber before she impacted the gunman. Grabbing his arm from behind, she pulled it up just as he fired a shot. Instead of killing one of the robbers, it blasted a large hole out of the ceiling. She pivoted and sidestepped so she was slightly in front of him, and kneed him in the gut as hard as she could. As she'd hoped, the air rushed out of his lungs with a gasp and the grip on the gun loosened. She yanked it out of his hand and swung around just time to face off with the blue-eyed robber, his own gun in his hand.

They faced each other silently. He towered a full head above her in height, nearly twice as wide. She didn't fancy having to face him head on like this. He slowly reached up and removed his ski mask, revealing the second mask underneath. She hissed a curse in surprise, berating herself for forgetting about his existence during the excitement. Of course Raven would be here, infiltrating the band of robbers to find out about their plans.

He regarded her coldly as he dropped the ski mask onto the floor. The expression on his face was sour, probably since he realized she had just saved him from being maimed at the very least. _His ego must really be bruised right now, since a shrimp like me came to his rescue_. The name he had used for her the last time they met burned in her memory. It had made her quite cross, even though she was much smaller than he. She was technically his senior here, having been patrolling the streets of Shibuya for more than a year before he showed up, and it was completely disrespectful.

Just then something heavy crashed into the back of her legs, causing her to pitch forward. She had forgotten the man she'd taken gun from, a stupid slipped out of her cloak, leaving it grasped in his hands as she rolled to her feet once again. It only fazed him for a moment before he came at her with a knife he'd taken from a sheath strapped to his leg.

Sparks flared to life momentarily as she brought her arm guards up to shield herself. The force of the blow was jarring, and she stumbled back a step. She could feel the bloodlust seeping from his skin as he bore his weight down on her. It took everything she had not to let her arms buckle while she tried to force her way into his mind, render him senseless.

She barely registered the movement beside her, but was relieved when a strong kick sent the attacker flying onto his back a few feet away. She allowed herself to fall into a loose crouch, the muscles in her arms burning from the strain of having to hold him back. Looking up at Raven, she noted with surprise that he was offering her a hand up. She took it, deciding to play nice for at least tonight.

They both faced the man on the floor while he looked at them with wild, crazed eyes. He scrambled to his feet, and darted towards the vault door. Raven started to follow him, but Shroud saw his intentions and grabbed his arm to pull him back. _This guy is insane! He's planning on setting off those explosives and taking us down with him!_

She pulled Raven back towards the guard room, where the second guard still lay unconscious. Luckily, the other robbers had had the sense of mind to run away long before this. She pushed her rival inside and slammed the door shut, hoping it would be enough to shield them from the blast. Not a moment later, an immense tremor shook the building, the sound that accompanied it making her ears ring and her head spin for a moment. The door shook and rattled against her back where she was holding it closed.

In the silence that followed, she met Raven's eyes once again. They both knew the man was dead, there was no way he'd found enough cover to survive. They didn't move as they heard and felt the building creak as it's structure failed. It was coming down, with them inside it.

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That's it for today ;D Hope you didn't mind the suspense of that ending, but it mean it is supposed to be a mystery you guys! Can't wait to get the next chapter up!

(Oh, I'll also be doing rewrites of my other stories as well ;D Good thing I hadn't posted that many yet!)

~SD


	2. Chapter 2

Here's a new chapter for you lovely readers! If you like it, maybe consider giving me a review and letting me know ;D

~SD

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Shroud pulled the door open, shielding her eyes from the dust that billowed in. Raven had the guard draped over his shoulders, shifting his weight in order to carry him easily. The walls groaned with the strain of holding the building together, and cracks could be seen growing slowly but steadily.

The blast had destroyed several of the columns holding up the second floor and pieces of the crumbling ceiling rained down above their heads. As larger pieces started to fall, picking their way across the lobby towards the main doors became dangerous. Smoke drifted through the air, coming from the desks that had caught fire in the explosion.

The floor trembled under her feet as Shroud hurried across the floor, weakening her balance. She checked back over her shoulder often to see how well Raven was keeping up with her. Red and blue flashing lights flickered over the unstable walls, proof that the police had arrived.

Reaching the entryway, she reached back and pulled Raven forward just has the entire third floor crashed into the middle of the lobby. She pushed him ahead of herself, unable to see in the cloud of dust that rushed from behind her. Rumbling filled her ears, and she stumbled as a piece of the wall fell onto her shoulder, tipping her to the side.

She gave Raven once last push before the ceiling of the entryway came down around her, and crouched against the wall, hoping that any large debris would lean up against it instead of crushing her. _I hope that asshole got the guard out all right at least_ , she thought.

She stayed there, with her arms raised above her head as a shield, until the rumbling stopped and the dust was settling. Her shoulder burned like fire where it had been hit, but there was no light to see how bad it was. She fought not to panic as she felt around, looking for some gap in the rubble through which to climb out of.

The sound of shifting rock echoed dully through the small space she was trapped in as she pushed against a slab of stone and plaster. She dedicated as much time to training her body as she did to training her mind, but being small in stature didn't help much in this situation. As she pushed, her boots kept sliding across the cracked marble floor of the bank. She just didn't have enough weight behind her to be able to get out of this mess.

Suddenly the slab she was pushing against shifted and fell away, causing her to fall forward. Light flooded in and she saw that Raven was helping the police officers dig her out. _Or maybe they're just searching for my body_. Either way, she was glad to see them.

She crawled out of the hole they had made for her, covered in a fine grey powder. She briefly tried brushing herself off, but decided it would be better if she waited till she got home. This had been such an ordeal, she was more than happy to leave patrolling the city to Raven, who barely looked affected by the building nearly crushing them.

In fact, when she looked closer, he looked almost forcibly aloof. Pointedly ignoring her, he was giving the police officers information about that gang of robbers. _What a jerk_.

* * *

The water from her shower stung her shoulder. It had been rather badly scraped, and getting it clean was far more important than worrying about temporary pain. She had had to deal with worse in the past.

Mai pushed her wet brown hair out of eyes. I'm going to have to get a haircut soon. She scrubbed herself with soap until the water ran clear, instead of grey with dust. Satisfied with her cleanliness, she turned off the water and stood up, wrapping herself in a towel as she did so.

Leaving her bathroom, she glanced at the clock and grimaced. 3:40 AM shone back at her in glaring red numbers. If she was lucky, she'd get a few hours of sleep before she had to leave for school. It was one of the few normal things in life that she allowed herself to keep up with. She even had a few friends there.

After drying herself off and changing into her pajamas, she set her alarm and lay down in her bed. Wondering if she'd get any new tips from that mysterious source, she rolled over idly.

She got the information about various things from the spirits that wandered the city. In her dreams, it was almost like she was tuning a radio, and if she did it right, she could hear them talking. Usually it was about how they died and who killed them, which had helped her lead the police to catch several murders after the cases had gone cold.

The spirit who she'd heard talking about the heist had been a new one, and she'd had a little bit of trouble connecting to him. Using the radio metaphor, it was like they were separated by a wall of static, and she had just managed to push through enough to hear some tidbits. This spirit had been different from others, who mostly rambled on to themselves. He had almost seemed to be speaking to someone in particular. And he had noticed her, something that had never happened to her before. He'd paused in his words, like he was looking around. " _Hello?_ " he'd said.

She shook her head, trying to clear her mind. She would just have to see if she was able to contact him in another dream. As if on command, her eyes drifted shut.

Her dreamspace was dark and immense, with small glowing orbs that drifted aimlessly up towards whatever passed for a sky here. The only light in this place was where she was standing, the ground seeming to be solid and white under her feet.

She looked around and jumped. For the first time since she'd been able to come here in her dreams, she wasn't alone. The figure was tall, and she couldn't quite get her eyes to focus on it. It was as if she were looking through a sheer curtain, she caught hints of features, a kind smile, dark hair, but that was all.

" _Hello?_ " it- no, he- said. It was the voice of the odd spirit she'd heard the other night. "Hello?" she echoed back?

" _Oh thank goodness, I must have found a medium capable of perceiving me_." His voice had laughter in it. He seemed friendly enough, for a spirit.

"Pardon my asking, but what are you? I've never heard a spirit who could talk directly to me before." She hoped she hadn't offended him, because then he might leave. Spirits were known to be fickle like that. Instead, he just chuckled.

" _I was a medium in life, a rather strong one. I seem to have been able to maintain some of my abilities in the afterlife as well_." He seemed to have no issues with talking about himself as a deceased person. A lot of the spirits she listened to were in denial, scared of what was happening to them, wanting to go home.

" _I would love to chat more, but it seems like you'll be going soon. I'll be waiting for the next time you make it back here. Maybe we can talk some more_." She didn't get a chance to reply. Her alarm sounded, waking her up.

She rubbed her eyes blearily. What on earth was up with that ghost?

* * *

Mai's school was an average high school, full of average students. Usually, she delighted in being able to feel normal herself for at least a few hours, but she was unusually preoccupied with her dream the night before. She didn't even notice Keiko and Michiru running over to her, an newspaper flapping wildly in Keiko's hands.

"Can you believe this? Raven and Shroud were seen working together last night! Can't you just feel the possibilities? A superhero team up!" Mai groaned as the two girls bounced around her.

"It says here that Shroud bravely sacrificed himself to get Raven and an unconscious hostage out of the building right before it came down on top of him! And then Raven dug him out of the rubble." Michiru's eyes were glazed over, imagining god knows what.

"Sounds fascinating." Mai said, shuddering. She knew her friends all to well, as well as what sort of fantasies they could be dreaming up. She made her way to her seat, her two friends trailing after her.

Looking around, she noted that most of the chairs around her were empty. Trying to be inconspicuous, she glanced over at the corner of the classroom. The new heartthrob of their grade sat there, and of course his desk was surrounded by giggling girls.

Mai wouldn't admit it, but she secretly admired him as well, with his dark ruffled hair, piercing blue eyes, and tall stature. He had just joined their school a month or two ago, but he was an instant hit with all the girls in their class, and more besides. She had never actually had an opportunity to speak to him directly, but what she saw of him during class was intelligent, if not charming.

She sat, something eating at her in the back of her mind. Something about him threw her off, however attractive he may be. Her sixth sense wouldn't allow her to completely believe he was all that perfect, or genuine for that matter. But she let it go, as she always did. Everyone had their secrets.

The students all returned to their seats as the bell chimed and the teacher walked in. Time passed quickly, without her realizing it. She lost herself in taking notes, doing her homework in the free minutes she had between classes. Every little bit counted, as she had other duties to attend to after school.

The final bell sounded before she knew it, and she packed up her things. Keiko and Michiru had brought out their newspaper once again, waving it excitedly in her face before they exited the classroom. A corner of her mouth perked up and she imagined them finding out that the heroes they idolized were a school girl and an asshole.

She made to follow them, settling her bag on her shoulder and making sure her chair was pushed in. Turning towards the door, she hit something solid and bounced back against her desk.

"Ow." She mumbled, rubbing the back of her leg where it had hit the wood particularly hard. Looking up to offer an apology to whoever she'd bumped into, her worlds caught in her throat. It was Shibuya-san, the new student.

He looked at her with an eyebrow raised as she stumbled through her words, managing eventually to tell him she was sorry. The only reaction she received was an amused smirk, which while being attractive, also annoyed her considerably. Why did she have to fall apart like that the first time they spoke?

Clearing her throat, she tried again. "I-I'm very sorry, please forgive me." There, that was better.

"Don't worry, it's not uncommon for girls to become tongue-tied, or lose control of their motor skills in my presence." He said it so nonchalantly that she was dumbfounded. This guy... what a total narcissist! Did he think she bumped into him because she was too blinded by his good looks to see where she was going?

She felt her face heat up as her temper flared. Glaring at him as he walked away, she resisted the urge to stomp her foot in frustration. _From now on, you're going to be Naru to me. Naru the Narcissist_!


End file.
